Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Another 78 from the boot on Sunday. I remember this oddity being played on Children's Favourites on the radio when I was a nipper.
"Carl Weismann - Danish legendary pioneer bird voice recording engineer, working for the Danish State Radio in Copenhagen - HATED dogs!
Yeah, well - he hated their barking spoiling every other of his recordings of singing birds - he became a master in cutting them out of his bird tapes - in those days - the 50's - there was no other way to do it than with a pair of scissors!
So he ended up with two piles of tapes - one with bird voices and one with dog voices.
The dogs really were doomed to be thrown out - but then Carl got an idea! He cut together a tape of various toned dog barks set to the music of 'Jingle Bells'.
He had no further intentions, than it might be fun for a Danish children radio show.
HOW it in 1955 ended up on a 45 rpm with 3 other tunes 'Patty Cake', 'Three Blind Mice' and 'Oh Susanna' as a four-tune medley - I simply don’t know. But the disc was released by RCA in USA and sold 500.000 copies.
Release in Britain around the same time was on Pye-Nixa label, on a 78 rpm disc.
In Sweden it has been seen on the Metronome label.
Howard Smith, host of a four-hour talk-music show over WABC-New York FM outlet, WPLJ who liked to play anything weird or new on his program first started playing the original 45 rpm disc at Christmas 1970.
Someone found it in a Boston used record store and gave it to the father of his girlfriend. Smith played the disc for many weeks prior to Christmas 1971 and told some RCA executives at a record party about the public response to his playing their old record. RCA unearthed the original parts at their plant in Indianapolis and rushed the disc into release in early December 1971.
In 3 weeks alone it sold 420,000 copies, the combined sales through the years thus making it a million seller."===================================================================================================================================================================Singing Dogs - Pat-a -cake/Jingle Bells==================================================================================================================================================================Singing Dogs - Oh Susanna

Monday, November 26, 2012

Another Cajun LP from the same pile at last week's boot sale - this time on the Old Timey records label. A compilation from 50's released in 1972...........................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says of Harry Choates - "Harry Choates (December 26, 1922, Rayne, Louisiana or New Iberia, Louisiana - July 17, 1951, Austin, Texas) was an American Cajun music fiddler.
Choates's place of birth is disputed. He moved to Port Arthur, Texas in the 1930s, and received little schooling, instead spending time in local bars listening to music on the jukebox. By age 12 he started playing fiddle for spare change in barbershops. He gained early professional experience playing in the bands of Leo Soileau and Leroy LeBlanc, then split off to form his own group called the Melody Boys in 1946. His 1946 song "Jole Blon", a top 10 hit (Billboard position #4) for Choates, was recorded by country singer Moon Mullican and became a major hit, but Choates had waived his rights to the song and was never compensated for the song's success.
Choates remained with the Melody Boys from 1946 to 1951, recording for Gold Star Records in 1946-47. The Melody Boys disbanded over Choates's chronic problems with alcoholism and his frequent missed concert dates, and shortly after the dissolution he played with Jesse James & His Gang on KTBC radio. In the middle of the year, Choates was found to be in contempt of court for failing to pay his support payments for his children. He spent three days in prison, at which time he began hitting his head against the bars of his jail cell, eventually knocking himself into a coma. The condition persisted for several days before Choates died on July 17, 1951."......................................................................................Wikipedia says of Hackberry Ramblers - "The Hackberry Ramblers (also known as the Riverside Ramblers), a Grammy Award-nominated Cajun music band based in Hackberry, Louisiana, formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and influential groups in Cajun music. Its sound has come to be one of the genre's most imitated, and its 1936 song "Jolie Blonde" — the group's most covered song — ranks as the informal "Cajun national anthem."
The group, which continues to tour and perform, has one of the longest histories of a musical group in the United States of America, and while its lineup has changed many times since its conception, its founders — fiddler Luderin Darbone and accordionist Edwin Duhon — led the band until Duhon's death in 2006. (Darbone died November 21, 2008.) While the roots of the band lie in its Cajun music repertoire, the Ramblers perform a broad swath of American music, from Western swing to blues and rockabilly, and much of their sound blends them all.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has honored the group; it holds enshrined many of the founding members' instruments.
James "Glen" Croker died at the age of 77 on August 23, 2011."...............................................................................Tracks are as follows - 1. Wondering - Joe Werner & His Riverside Ramblers 2. Dissatisfied - Joe Werner & His Riverside Rablers 3. Jolie Blonde - Hackberry Ramblers 4. Ma Cherie Belle - Hackfield Ramblers 5. Austin Special - Harry Choates 6. Saturday Night Waltz - Harry Choates 7. La Prison - Oaklahoma Tornadoes......................................................................................Cajun Music - Side One

Friday, November 23, 2012

More Wurzels this time with Adge Cutler from 1968 on the EMI label. Supposed to be a live recording but sounds very fake to me - maybe just the way its been edited. The usual old country bumpkin nonsense and terrible jokes and daft ditties about life in the West Country....................................................................................Wikipedia says - "Alan John Cutler was born in Portishead, Somerset. Nicknamed 'Adge' by his friends, from his initials A.J., he lived in the small North Somerset town of Nailsea. He spent his earlier years pursuing various jobs he would use as material for later songs, including road manager for Acker Bilk, working in a cider mill (Coates of Nailsea), and working on building a power station in North Wales. He spent a year in Spain working as an agent looking for property. During his time there he grew to love the country and the Spanish way of life, as well as becoming fluent in Spanish.
In 1972, he married Yvonne, moving to Tickenham, a few miles north of Nailsea.
Cutler's songs are largely sung in his own accent, though some are in an exaggerated Bristolian accent, and one in West Indian dialect. Cutler was influenced by Len "Uke" Thomas, a singer who left no recordings but who sang in the Bristolian dialect and who was a well known Bristol entertainer.
Virtually all of Cutler's recordings are live; one album, "Cutler of the West", was recorded at the Webbington Country Club, which is very easy to see on the M5 motorway, on the slopes of Crook Peak.
[edit]Death
On 5 May 1974, he died when he crashed his MGB sports car on a roundabout in Chepstow, following a Wurzels concert. Cutler is buried in the graveyard of Christ Church, Nailsea."..................................................................................................................................................................Adge Cutler - Side One

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Boot sale find on Sunday. LP on the Arhoolie label from 1977. Dance music from the Louisiana bayou..........................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says - "Dewey Balfa (March 20, 1927 – June 17, 1992) was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at the Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus LeJeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members. He sang the song "Parlez Nous à Boire" in the 1981 cult film Southern Comfort, in which he had a small role."............................................................................................."Marc Savoy (pronounced English pronunciation: /sɑːˈvwɑː/ 'sah-vwah')[1] (b. near Eunice, Louisiana, United States, October 1, 1940) is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion.
Savoy holds a degree in chemical engineering but his primary income is derived from his accordion-making business, based at his Savoy Music Center in Eunice, Louisiana. His wife is the singer and guitarist Ann Savoy, whom he met in 1975. He has performed with Robert Bertrand, Dennis McGee, Rodney Balfa, Sady Courville, Dewey Balfa, D. L. Menard, and Michael Doucet, the latter of whom he plays with in the Savoy-Doucet Band. He also plays in the Savoy Family Band with his wife Ann and their sons Joel and Wilson.
He hosts regular jam sessions and mini-festivals at the Savoy Music Center."...................................................................................."Menard was born in Erath, Louisiana. The only child of Mr. Ophy Menard and Mrs. Helena Primeaux Menard. He was part of a Cajun farming family. He started to play guitar at 16 and started playing dances in Louisiana clubs at 17. He was greatly influenced by Hank Williams meeting him once in 1951 at the Teche Club shortly before Hank's death. Since then he has performed in more than 30 countries and served as a good-will ambassador for Cajun culture. He has also recorded with non-Cajun artists, including Bryan Ferry. He and his wife Louella - now deceased - have seven children, seventeen grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. He still lives in Erath and continues to play music. He has maintained a separate career as a craftsman, noted for his handmade ash-wood chairs he makes at his one-man factory in Erath."......................................................................................................................................................................Tracks are as follows - 1. Jolie BlondeDe bayou 2. Petite Fille De La Campagne 3.En Bas D'un Chene Vert 4. Port Arthur Blues 5. J'ai Fait Un Gros Erreur 6. J'etais Au Bal........................................................................................................................................................................Dewey Balfa & Co. - Side One

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Another Undercurrents show from the early 80's. No guest as such but a live song by The Shakin' Pyramids, a Scottish rockabilly band. Charlie plays the usual eclectic mix from the pub rock and indie scene at the time.............................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says - "The Shakin' Pyramids (also known as Shakin' Pyramids) were a Scottish rockabilly band formed in Glasgow in the late 1970s. The band consisted of Dave Duncan (vocals, harmonica, percussion) James G. Creighton (acoustic & electric guitar, vocals) and "Railroad" Ken McLellan (acoustic guitar, vocals).
During the band's recording career from 1980–1983, they released two studio albums, four singles and three extended plays—one of which was recorded with the late British recording star Lonnie Donegan. A 1983 compilation album was released shortly after the group's disbandment, and a live album followed in 2001. Although the band did not enjoy any major chart successes, their work was generally well received by critics. They earned a fan base through their energetic live performances, which were originally honed on the streets of Glasgow and later exhibited via their extensive touring and a number of television appearances. In recent years, their work has been described as having helped define the short-lived rockabilly revival of the early 1980s."....................................................................................................................................................................Charlie Gillett - Undercurrents 12

Friday, November 16, 2012

A interview with DJ Stu Colman on Radio London in the 80's. The rockney duo chat about their favourite influences - Jerry Lee Lewis etc. and playing some of their "new" songs ................................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says - "Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) are an English pop rock duo, most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled "rockney", which mixes "pub singalong, music-hall humour, boogie-woogie piano and pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll". For a time, "Rockney" was also the name of their record label, and they achieved several British chart hits, their major breakthrough being "Gertcha" in 1979, which peaked at #20 and was the first of eight Top 40 hit singles the duo played on. The act has also enjoyed nine best-selling albums.
It was announced in September 2009 that the pair would no longer be working together as Dave Peacock planned to retire from the band following the death of his wife Sue. However, in 2010 the band announced a tour in 2011. They are due to play IndigO2 on 8th December 2012 & then a final tour of the U.K. between 28th February until 16th May 2013.".....................................................................................................................................................................Chas n Dave - Stu Colman show

Thursday, November 15, 2012

An "Undercurrents" radio show on Capital Radio from 26th October 1980 when Ry was over here promoting his Bop Til You Drop LP and touring with John Hiatt and his band which also included Flaco Jimenez on accordion. Some great music including original versions of songs that Cooder had covered and informative chat as always........................................................................................................................................................................"Ryland "Ry" Peter Cooder (born 15 March 1947, in Los Angeles, California) is an American guitarist, singer and composer.
He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in blues-rock, roots music from his native North America, and, more recently, for his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.
Cooder's solo work has been an eclectic mix, taking in dust bowl folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much else. He has collaborated with many important musicians, including The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Earl Hines, Little Feat, Captain Beefheart, The Chieftains, John Lee Hooker, Pops, Mavis Staples, Gabby Pahinui, Flaco Jiménez, Freddy Fender and Ali Farka Touré. He formed the Little Village supergroup with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.
Cooder was ranked 8th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
......................................................................................................................................................................................Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder Pt. 1......................................................................................................................................................................Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder Pt. 2.............................................................................................................................................................................Also on Divshare...................................................................................Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder Pt. 1...........................................................................................................................................................................Charlie Gillett - Ry Cooder Pt.2

Friday, November 09, 2012

I thought I had featured this LP some years ago but looking back through the archive I see that I missed it for some reason. Apart from the striking sleeve it has some very nice Egyptian music on it. Sounds very authentic to me but what do I know! Made back in the 60's for the Hi-Fi enthusiasts more than anyone and an interesting flavour of the Middle East long before the phrase "world music" was ever invented.

El-Bakkar was a noted tenor and appeared in several Arabic-language films. He moved to the United States in 1952 and lived in Brooklyn. He released several LPs of Arabic music in the United States. He also played a singing Oriental rug salesman in the Broadway musical Fanny, in the Oriental bazaar scene; the production ran from 1954 to 1956.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 8, 1959, at the age of 46, after collapsing while performing at an annual Lebanese American festival in Lincoln, Rhode Island.".................................................................................
Tracks are as follows - 1. Haun Meelee 2. Balady 3. Rahks Port Said 4. Hygalo 5. Geena Ghanneelak 6. Ah Ya Zain.........................................................................................................................................................................
Mohammed El-Bakkar - Side Two